tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18628368928157782242024-02-18T21:04:43.534-08:00Human-Animal Studies ImagesUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1862836892815778224.post-56914323746094691902016-12-03T08:48:00.000-08:002016-12-03T08:48:15.286-08:00Are Animal Crackers Vegan?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Dating back to 1902, Barnum's animal crackers have been an American classic for generations. The original boxes came with a string and cardboard wheels so that the bears, elephants, lions, and tigers painted behind bars could be carried about by children encouraged to take on the role of ringleader. The animals were often shown vicious, wild, exciting, and in need of control. The cages separating the consumer from the wild beasts within were necessary and clearly defined.<br />
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In <i><a href="https://www.routledge.com/Our-Children-and-Other-Animals-The-Cultural-Construction-of-Human-Animal/Cole-Stewart/p/book/9781409464600" target="_blank">Our Children and Other Animals</a> </i>(2014), Matthew Cole and Kate Stewart argue that children's toys, media, and other products are carefully constructed to capitalize on children's interest in other animals, while also teaching them speciesism and dominance. To accomplish this, the violence inherent to speciesism is presented as unexceptional or erased altogether to the effect of normalizing human supremacy.<br />
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In support of this socialization process, the "wildness" of other animals may be emphasized to teach children that violent relationships with other animals is "natural," as is human dominance. However, oppression is increasingly framed as consensual, rather than forced. This approach surfaces is in Barnum's packaging today.<br />
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Gone are the angry, caged animals requiring harsh control. Today's box features sentimental images of animal families. This is a soft control. The bars become faint and fall into the background. Children can now imagine that the animals are there of their own will, their oppression desired and mutually beneficial. This ideology of consensual, happy, and willing participation is perhaps the most powerful in support of speciesism. It is not only circus animals who are reframed in this way, but other "zoo" animals. Over 50 species have been imprisoned in Barnum's cardboard railroad cars since 1902.<br />
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Some of the newer special editions show no bar enclosure at all. The animals are still controlled, boxed or within a snow globe, but the child is encouraged to understand this control as benevolent.<br />
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Are animal crackers vegan? While Nabisco's recipe is free of animal ingredients, Cole & Stewart's sociological analysis would suggest that consuming animal crackers is ritualistically anti-vegan, as it socializes speciesist sentiments and human supremacy in children. The work of vegan feminist Carol Adams supports this position, theorizing that Nonhuman Animals are routinely represented as willing, happy participants in order to repackage their consumption as something pleasurable, fun, and natural.<br />
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In the 1990s, Nabisco ran limited edition packaging that featured endangered species to raise awareness and funds, but even this intent to help was human-centered. Said the Nabisco product manager in a story with <i><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/14/magazine/sunday-may-14-1995-animals-of-the-week-off-with-their-heads.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a></i>:<br />
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<i>What do people like about animal crackers? Biting off the heads! Our hope was that children will line them up, match them up with the names on the box, learn about them and then decapitate them.</i></blockquote>
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<a href="http://www.coreyleewrenn.com/" target="_blank">Dr. Corey Wrenn</a> is a professor of Sociology specializing in the political structure of the Nonhuman Animal rights movement. She is founder of the <a href="http://www.veganfeministnetwork.com/" target="_blank">Vegan Feminist Network</a> and author of <i><a href="https://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9781137434647" target="_blank">A Rational Approach to Animal Rights: Extensions in Abolitionist Theory</a></i> (Palgrave 2016).Corey Wrennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04099780959084371968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1862836892815778224.post-22822458332701316182015-01-15T16:08:00.000-08:002015-01-15T16:08:38.050-08:00Pointlessly Gendering Cats and Dogs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Last December in Aldi (an Irish grocery chain), my partner and I were looking for a Christmas present for his dog. While sifting through the pet section, we noticed that perhaps it was a good thing his dog isn't female, because the only doggy stockings for sale were for male dogs. </div>
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According to Armitage Pet Care ("The largest independent manufacturer and distributor of branded pet accessories and treats in the UK"), kitty treats are for "good girls" and doggy treats are for "good boys." The cat and dog caricatures and packaging colors appear to be gender neutral, but the labels are unnecessarily gendered. Upon further investigation, the gendering process extends beyond Santa's workshop: "Good Boy" applies to their entire line of canine treats, and "Good Girl" refers to their line of feline treats. What's more, this gender assignment is presumed to be implicit. The Armitage website does not clarify which product line refers to which species.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here, the gendered identity of companion animals is taken for granted</td></tr>
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Sociologists have noted that humans tend to transfer their gender role expectations onto nonhumans (and nonhumans also become extensions of human gender expressions). Dogs tend to be masculinized; <a href="http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/12/04/the-feminization-of-the-cat-in-anti-suffrage-propaganda/" target="_blank">cats tend to be feminized</a>. Regardless of the animal's actual sex, they will be socialized according to the gender of their owner. My brother's pit bull is female, for example, but she plays rough and rowdy. She practically jumps off the walls because of how my brother has socialized her and how he engages play with her (as other pit bull guardians can attest, many pits are quiet and gentle). We also know that that many men are hesitant to have their male companion animals spayed for fear of emasculating them (a serious problem given the high death rates in kill shelters for discarded and homeless animals). Gender may be socially constructed, but its consequences are real indeed.<br />
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Dr. Lisa Wade of <i>Sociological Images</i> regularly deconstructs "unnecessarily" or "pointlessly" gendered cultural artifacts on the <a href="http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2011/10/26/pink-earplugs-for-your-beauty-sleep/" target="_blank">website</a> and its corresponding <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/socimages/pointlessly-gendered-products/" target="_blank">Pinterest page</a> to demonstrate how powerful gender roles are on the social imagination. Of course, gendering products is not "pointless." This action has a very intentional social purpose: to maintain and reproduce difference (which, in turn, maintains and reproduces social inequality). Nonhuman bodies are often politicized in the process, becoming representations of human stratification.<br />
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In many cases, the aggravation of these differences is much more conscious because it also serves to increase consumption. A heterosexual couple can't just share body wash, for instance. <i>He</i> has to have the forest-scented, blue soap in the black bottle labeled "For men;" <i>she</i> has to have the pink strawberry soap in the flowery bottle. Not surprisingly, there is often a feminine tax as well, with women's products costing more than equivalent products for men. As sociologists understand the economic sphere to be the origin of social structure (and inequality), it is no surprise to see such heavy representation of difference in the marketplace.<br />
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My male cat is not going to care either way if he is a good "boy" or "girl" as long as he gets his paws on that catnip. My partner's dog probably doesn't care if he is a good "doggy" or a good "kitty" either, and would gladly chomp down on anything and everything in the "Good Girl Christmas Cat Stocking." In the end, we settled on a gender neutral (and, subsequently, a much less annoying) chew toy.<br />
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<b>References</b><br />
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Adams, C. and J. Donovan. 1995. <i>Animals and Women: Feminist Theoretical Explorations</i>. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.<br />
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Ramirez, M. 2006. "'My Dog's Just Like Me': Dog Ownership as a Gender Display." <i>Symbolic Interaction</i> 29 (3): 373-391.Corey Wrennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04099780959084371968noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1862836892815778224.post-8260348287972464062014-12-13T12:13:00.001-08:002014-12-13T12:13:34.685-08:00Our Children and Other Animals: Socializing Speciesism through Children's Media<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span lang="EN-GB">This new book critically examines the
socialization of the human domination of other animals, with a focus on the
socialization sites of the family, mass media, formal education system and
digital media. While the book focuses on the contemporary UK, it also attends
to the historical formation of children’s relations with other animals in
Britain, and to the inflection of UK popular culture by global giants in the
construction of animal iconography, such as Disney and Nintendo. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">A central argument of the book is that
children’s ethical capacities are systematically distorted by the capitalist
imperative to commodify nonhuman animals (as food, experimental tools, objects
of entertainment and so on) and that an elective affinity therefore exists
between the practices of commodification and the cultural products that
distract children’s attention from those practices, at the same time as subtly legitimating
them. The instrumentalizing imperative penetrates every aspect of the
socialization process, disguised by the ‘cute’ anthropomorphic iconography of
children’s culture, which can be found in food packaging, clothing, movies,
magazines, teaching materials and online games that feature nonhumans as ‘pets’
or ‘farmed’ animals. This iconography paints a veneer of affectivity over
human-nonhuman animal relations that allow the socialization of domination to
proceed smoothly, focusing children’s affective concern for animals on
fictional characters or relatively protected nonhumans, such as animal
companions or members of iconic free-living species. Children’s unwitting
complicity with the exploitation and violence that characterizes human uses of
other animals is thereby facilitated. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">The book also considers how these kinds of
anthroparchal inter-species relations intersect with intra-human inequalities,
especially of gender and age: ethical concern for other animals is initially
encouraged in the socialization process, but is thereafter associated both with
human infancy itself as an immature stage of human relationships with other
animals, but also with femininity through the construction of a ‘fluffy nexus
of sentimentality’ that articulates affective relations with ‘cute’ animals
with girlhood. In this linking of infancy, femininity and affectivity for other
animals, we argue that the seeds are sown of an anthroparchal, patriarchal and
ageist adult culture’s disparagement of the animal rights and vegan movement as
infantile, irrational and trivial. The book ends with a consideration of how
the vegan movement is responding to the challenge of anthroparchal socialization,
through the analysis of the emerging genre of vegan children’s literature. This
new cultural development offers some hope that the socialization of the
normality of domination can be challenged and that children’s capacities to
forge ethical relations with nonhuman animals can flourish in a
post-anthroparchal environment. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">We hope that the book will interest
critical animal studies and human-animal studies scholars across a range of
disciplines, but especially within sociology. We are active members of the BSA
(British Sociological Association) Animal/Human Studies Group (AHSG), regularly
presenting our work at the BSA annual conference. We are pleased to report that
attendance at ASHG panels and ad hoc sessions about animals are becoming better
attended year on year, and we look forward to building on that momentum in
2015, when we’ll once again be panellists at the BSA conference, discussing
some of the ideas from the book. One of our ambitions for the book is that it
will foster connections with sociologists working in different areas of the
discipline, especially childhood studies, the sociology of the family,
education, popular culture as well as social theorists. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">ASA members who are interested in the book
can download the introduction chapter from <a href="http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9781409464600" target="_blank">the publisher’s website</a>, free of
charge. A podcast of us discussing the book, with fellow sociologist Dr Roger Yates, is
available by <a href="http://human-nonhuman.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/ohnhr-podcast-34-matthew-cole-kate.html" target="_blank">clicking here</a>. A review by Corey Wrenn is available by <a href="http://academicabolitionistvegan.blogspot.ie/2014/11/review-our-children-and-other-animals.html" target="_blank">clicking here</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">We would be delighted to hear from any ASA
members who are interested in our work and we can be contacted at:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Dr Matthew Cole, The Open University, UK: <a href="mailto:m.d.d.c.cole@open.ac.uk">m.d.d.c.cole@open.ac.uk</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Dr Kate Stewart, University of Nottingham,
UK: <a href="mailto:kate.stewart@nottingham.ac.uk">kate.stewart@nottingham.ac.uk</a>
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Corey Wrennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04099780959084371968noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1862836892815778224.post-1400446578665285042014-08-24T19:44:00.000-07:002014-08-24T19:45:33.184-07:00One Gorilla, Two Gorillas, Three Gorillas, Four. Gorillas are for laughs? Or to abhor?<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH41FVBC2O5NWoo6OrFJPm0zgrn9CbncRofeXE09H61C_HLqW3hY2_1LBbf_u2Tc3-QYrms0EegT8GtDkj4pFwikLyaXERawkS5ymaArI6FqGfnBueos837L416VBNsvk4lnSaFID5kAk/s1600/Kingkong_bigfinal1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH41FVBC2O5NWoo6OrFJPm0zgrn9CbncRofeXE09H61C_HLqW3hY2_1LBbf_u2Tc3-QYrms0EegT8GtDkj4pFwikLyaXERawkS5ymaArI6FqGfnBueos837L416VBNsvk4lnSaFID5kAk/s1600/Kingkong_bigfinal1.jpg" height="320" width="216" /></a></div>
Hollywood has fed an unforgettable image of gorillas to
audiences of <i>King Kong</i> for
generations.<br />
<br />
Zoos display gorillas in
both live exhibits and as climbable statues. <br />
<br />
Environmental stewardship organizations present the amber-eyed faces of gorillas with pleas for support.<br />
<br />
A life-size concrete gorilla (undoubtedly with a backstory) even stands
at the corner of an Arby’s parking lot in Madison, Wisconsin. </div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWrnnBI0tyDhekDcyc9b4B9DusVmijwcW4EqnplV28bBDWTK6_T1XwrACTkukFn9cr0SJiOpTdn1viLppzCWzUA_UbywHMSX_eAJ5B3escFosRBx-cQ076kOQM9x9-VuAcuEjzwvOeO-E/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWrnnBI0tyDhekDcyc9b4B9DusVmijwcW4EqnplV28bBDWTK6_T1XwrACTkukFn9cr0SJiOpTdn1viLppzCWzUA_UbywHMSX_eAJ5B3escFosRBx-cQ076kOQM9x9-VuAcuEjzwvOeO-E/s1600/photo.JPG" height="320" width="163" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7l0PQjl0wvhlhnToxDI8SmK4G4ykpKiJgTDXxt7gQ-3o2TLRLVen30ZjXGtAOoyAQxjsgOPLeHMoAmN7J2Sq25bE9OTjWAu4DpSPgamulJULP8P6-SfkwVs8qV-9zpvei3Wz_WxmRYn0/s1600/IMG_6737.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7l0PQjl0wvhlhnToxDI8SmK4G4ykpKiJgTDXxt7gQ-3o2TLRLVen30ZjXGtAOoyAQxjsgOPLeHMoAmN7J2Sq25bE9OTjWAu4DpSPgamulJULP8P6-SfkwVs8qV-9zpvei3Wz_WxmRYn0/s1600/IMG_6737.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmFnx4c_cCYJDui13QPcdxvz9Zop1nFtEHibOcQ6WOm3arZLm93BQZO6eSx5xzeuI68gKRDZnyp3GKxVvhZ3yKVlDack1wRwbcuvuSlXPCABc3YM_RdTcZhy1w_q1seEimNg0htmV9ZQ0/s1600/gorilla_crunch_enviro_kids.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmFnx4c_cCYJDui13QPcdxvz9Zop1nFtEHibOcQ6WOm3arZLm93BQZO6eSx5xzeuI68gKRDZnyp3GKxVvhZ3yKVlDack1wRwbcuvuSlXPCABc3YM_RdTcZhy1w_q1seEimNg0htmV9ZQ0/s1600/gorilla_crunch_enviro_kids.jpg" height="320" width="210" /></a>The gorilla image is also used to sell products from glue to
horticultural tents (both emphasizing strength and toughness), and from children’s
cereal to candy bars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of these last two,
the former – a mural-like rendering of an adult gorilla seated behind a
photographed bowl of EnviroKids Organic Gorilla Munch – has experienced its own
popularity as an Internet meme with iterations of the phrase, “That really
rustled my jimmies.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The latter gorilla
image comes from a 2007 commercial for Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate and
features a male actor in a gorilla suit.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
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With appearances in these various places, products, and representations, how are we to know what a gorilla <i>is</i>…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A vehicle of entertainment?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A messenger for conservation?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A mascot, and if so, to be feared or
endeared?<o:p></o:p></div>
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***<o:p></o:p></div>
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Janine Benyus reflects upon historical presentations of
gorillas in her recently published book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Secret Language of Animals: A Guide to Remarkable Behavior.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She writes:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<i>Don’t you wonder how anyone could
have portrayed this peaceable animal<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i>as “nature’s most savage beast” for
so many years?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The answer, of course,
was in the profits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Circuses that housed
a “dangerous killer” drew record crowds...<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As a result, fears and myths about gorillas became embedded in our
culture.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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History has shown that gorillas need not be present for
audiences to find “them” amusing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Enter
the infamous man-in-a-gorilla-suit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Whether at a circus, like the one shown below in Calcutta, or in
advertisement, like Cadbury’s Phil Collins mimic, gorilla antics – even of
human invention – are fair game for derision.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2R_2zVRKji6EBE0XbFcf9rz7EWjFSI_fc0zGVnD6lxjxJaDGz5KAriMcH0rrCOqW15AJDNS1w3ZQIv8O6OAAd_CVcKGcByayTFEn8-3I_Frq86pbGLRIeaK-jLpldkbPymbcp7LrLlwM/s1600/IMG_6410.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2R_2zVRKji6EBE0XbFcf9rz7EWjFSI_fc0zGVnD6lxjxJaDGz5KAriMcH0rrCOqW15AJDNS1w3ZQIv8O6OAAd_CVcKGcByayTFEn8-3I_Frq86pbGLRIeaK-jLpldkbPymbcp7LrLlwM/s1600/IMG_6410.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Despite laughter and media playfulness surrounding gorilla
images, it seems the “savage beast” representation endures most strongly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Not too long ago,” Beynus adds, “a survey
taken among British schoolchildren showed that gorillas ranked right up there
with snakes and rats as the kids’ most hated animals.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Does hating this mostly vegetarian, sociable, intelligent, curious being cause us any conflict?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
Or
can we separate the Kong and gorilla-suits from true <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gorillaness</i>?<o:p></o:p><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinFT-K0J1DuGKHfCzFvGl9_0bp7QM3IaAODYGzbVIfjqV8P2XsmrLNYdEq8M42prgr1soZx9L5vsi-_m7X4dccmRhWmRqou8xCXg6F5NjDml8uB_x8kEJWJoFQtmfKiLwQC6jRIBR4Pkw/s1600/1222_GorillaMain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinFT-K0J1DuGKHfCzFvGl9_0bp7QM3IaAODYGzbVIfjqV8P2XsmrLNYdEq8M42prgr1soZx9L5vsi-_m7X4dccmRhWmRqou8xCXg6F5NjDml8uB_x8kEJWJoFQtmfKiLwQC6jRIBR4Pkw/s1600/1222_GorillaMain.jpg" height="240" width="400" /></a></div>
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<u>SOURCES</u></div>
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Literature<br />
Benyus, Janine M. (2014). <i>The Secret Language of Animals.</i> Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, Inc.<br />
New York. </div>
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Images<br />
1. serkis.com<br />
2. Brookfield Zoo (the author's)<br />
3. Madison, WI (the author's)<br />
4. ourgreenhome.ca<br />
5. Gorilla grow tent poster (the author's)<br />
6. Cadbury's Gorilla video on YouTube (screenshot by the author)<br />
7. Mark, Mary Ellen. (2014). "Plate 86: Twin brothers Tulsi and Basant, Great Famous Circus, Calcutta, India, 1989." <i>Man and Beast, Photographs from Mexico and India.</i> University of Texas Press<br />
8. orvis.com</div>
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Amy A. Freehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16583399534802956358noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1862836892815778224.post-25597503710767355312014-07-08T15:13:00.000-07:002014-07-08T15:13:40.723-07:00STK Open Call: Exploring Species-Gender Intersections in DC Steakhouse<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj05NrZcV0wLN8ZrAwB-AAWDQ18zpJiW-Z9dwo9TBCDT0qVomgXDBqnyer4M57HrWpZ0tSvEtsKjtN1sYlAnJxwzKyrZyBWLtxPKQKdoeA6RW8EqOqSwGHe4VZKdvJuHVhyCeh0q9AjkA/s1600/1025518_593688204046571_1636657242_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj05NrZcV0wLN8ZrAwB-AAWDQ18zpJiW-Z9dwo9TBCDT0qVomgXDBqnyer4M57HrWpZ0tSvEtsKjtN1sYlAnJxwzKyrZyBWLtxPKQKdoeA6RW8EqOqSwGHe4VZKdvJuHVhyCeh0q9AjkA/s1600/1025518_593688204046571_1636657242_o.jpg" height="400" width="311" /></a></div>
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A new steakhouse has opened in Washington, DC that relies heavily on sexualized women to glamorize animal flesh as sexy, trendy, edgy, and <i>available</i>. Many of the photographs used to promote the restaurant utilize thin, young, and mostly white female models. This is done to create a sense of pleasurable consumption. As Carol Adams has argued--sex and animal foods are often overlapped to give an impression to the privileged consumer that the products of oppression are given freely and happily. Just as patriarchy convinces us that women really <i>want</i> it (sex, rape, violence, humiliation, etc.), it also convinces us that other feminized bodies really want this violation, too. Indeed, this fetishization becomes marketable.<br />
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Unfortunately, what this means for women and animals is that the violence enacted against them is sexualized, romanticized, and normalized. Notice the disembodied woman in high heels with a meat cleaver--extreme violence is being associated with sexual desire. Given the epidemic levels of violence against women, this should be serious cause for concern. As for Nonhuman Animals, like the woman in this image, they are fragmented and only made visible in consumable pieces of chopped up flesh. These images want us to stay focused on meat; they don't want us thinking about the woman or cow they were attached to. That isn't sexy--that makes us think, and thinking interferes with sales.<br />
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Customers can come to STK to get their meat served up pretty. The website is careful to frequently juxtapose human meat with nonhuman meat. Human and nonhuman bodies are presented as interchangeable, fragmented, and completely and utterly objectified.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqnrLkV0DlqIu7mHin-R1fH1voVxOwEoHvk6Gr1KXj37nJcV5Ml_UklFnm_tR2QQ7vSFX1LiSaZUsuGgXMh-vioAOjRau5JN6Mj2_YOrDz9n5QjquF3e5yQK49Drq2v7f55e0DJlcZjg/s1600/STK1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqnrLkV0DlqIu7mHin-R1fH1voVxOwEoHvk6Gr1KXj37nJcV5Ml_UklFnm_tR2QQ7vSFX1LiSaZUsuGgXMh-vioAOjRau5JN6Mj2_YOrDz9n5QjquF3e5yQK49Drq2v7f55e0DJlcZjg/s1600/STK1.jpg" height="158" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuznxM1Ee2wXXkCLDTDfd-pQc7d6JEVDp0gV5rmaBJ2aEFkMY_5-tI9nyRK4Wrq_Mbeuy8BpnfQ9WYF4x_8zKgQ_thwbEY-DOZMP34TtLD4ywoq78VjUWxN6r4HY7H15SBSAaeY5kt_g/s1600/STK2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuznxM1Ee2wXXkCLDTDfd-pQc7d6JEVDp0gV5rmaBJ2aEFkMY_5-tI9nyRK4Wrq_Mbeuy8BpnfQ9WYF4x_8zKgQ_thwbEY-DOZMP34TtLD4ywoq78VjUWxN6r4HY7H15SBSAaeY5kt_g/s1600/STK2.jpg" height="140" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge-hK4Yzh6hNADSnlcNlg5odev_gBY2uLIs4qS6wwmdowrLw2djMAU6K0sI59l7PwE7aHfyokV20GIAZoEGfoB2ExvggE9q3-9agZT7ll6vub25PRczAj9EYVKryQSgrQ0NY-g0zVLAA/s1600/STK3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge-hK4Yzh6hNADSnlcNlg5odev_gBY2uLIs4qS6wwmdowrLw2djMAU6K0sI59l7PwE7aHfyokV20GIAZoEGfoB2ExvggE9q3-9agZT7ll6vub25PRczAj9EYVKryQSgrQ0NY-g0zVLAA/s1600/STK3.jpg" height="271" width="320" /></a></div>
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Models hired to promote the restaurant are literally branded with the store logo, marked as STK property as cows are in the feedlots of STK suppliers. Again, this logo is quite indicative of the close association between the oppression of women and other animals. With a pouty lipsticked kiss, the mass murder of Nonhuman Animals and the objectification of women is made flirty and sexy.<br />
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Sexualized women routinely show up in STK adverts as well, even when they have nothing to do whatsoever with the product. Notice there are not even any pictures of food or drinks in the Apple Pie Day advertisement. In the happy hour advert, it is suggested that female customers at STK drink booze in positions of sexual availability (the mixing of alcohol with the sexual availability of women, incidentally, is the symboblic language of rape culture). Women are used as signifiers: Enact your privilege here.<br />
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A sexualized woman is even used to sell dead animal parts for charity. Ironically, the charity, UNICEF, is concerned with childhood hunger...and the Western animal-based diet that STK satiates is one reason why this hunger exists. Third world nations are often left unable to provide food for their own inhabitants, as much of the food they grow is used as feed for those Nonhuman Animals destined for Western consumption. The violence enacted on these colonized peoples, like that which is enacted on women and Nonhuman Animals, remains largely invisible behind the glamour of youth, beauty, sex, and money whipped up in STK campaigning.<br />
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<i>The vegan-feminist critique featured in this essay is based on the work of Carol Adams. Thanks to Ivy Collier for bringing this steakhouse ad campaign to my attention.</i><br />
<br />Corey Wrennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04099780959084371968noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1862836892815778224.post-48906001269509760842014-07-01T14:03:00.002-07:002014-07-01T14:06:01.271-07:00Cats and WarWe all know by now that the Internet is run by cats. But the social media accounts of Islamist fighters in the Middle East?<br />
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Apparently, some ISIS fighters have been posting these provocative images of cats posed with guns and other weapons recently on their Twitter and Instagram accounts, accompanied by the hashtag #CatsOfJihad. <br />
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While these strangely cute photos may be useful as a recruiting tool to incite more young people to join the Jihadist movement, and may even be moving <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/1.599557" target="_blank">Westerners to join</a>, there is something ironic about using images of soft and cuddly animals posed with deadly weapons to advertise war.<br />
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We all know how deadly war is to humans. But many people don't stop to think about how deadly it is to non-human animals. Both domesticated and wild animals are dragged into, harmed by, and killed by wars. Dogs, horses, cattle, bees, pigeons, elephants, dolphins, and countless other animals have been used as military service animals for thousands of years, and there is no way to know how many have been "sacrificed" in all of the wars in which they have "served."<br />
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And then as "civilians," they have suffered just as civilian humans have from bombing and fighting in their lands and homes, as well as from the needs of both the soldiers and refugees who often feed on them. Not only that, but they are affected by wars for years afterwards, thanks to the environmental consequences of chemical weapons, burning of fuels, dumping of ammunition, testing of bombs, and radioactivity.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga4Zr4SPrODXGtInNq5DbkePz1xAaAz_qvWY-eufOv-N-dmeiiJP88vQ_AES54Ve6-4pioKfFzMFizwK3Cn41hTWvFcmpPYGLOAaaz1eVyYiur-jdebBNwHJChZ3KfFW_ukO1QN5Fu9Go/s1600/BqZuGrjCQAEscXM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga4Zr4SPrODXGtInNq5DbkePz1xAaAz_qvWY-eufOv-N-dmeiiJP88vQ_AES54Ve6-4pioKfFzMFizwK3Cn41hTWvFcmpPYGLOAaaz1eVyYiur-jdebBNwHJChZ3KfFW_ukO1QN5Fu9Go/s1600/BqZuGrjCQAEscXM.jpg" height="320" width="280" /></a></div>
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War means death--death to humans, and death to animals. And no amount of squee photos of kittens hugging grenades will change that sad fact.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1862836892815778224.post-90766065235066039492014-06-13T12:38:00.001-07:002014-06-13T12:40:16.570-07:00A Dog in the YearbookService animals have been getting increasing attention lately; a story went viral last month about a <a href="http://www.insideedition.com/headlines/8355-dog-poops-on-plane-forces-emergency-landing" target="_blank">US Airways flight that had to make an emergency landing</a> after a service dog pooped in the aisles (not once, but twice), and the smell apparently sickened a number of passengers.<br />
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Recently there have been conflicts and even lawsuits over whether service animals can enter certain businesses; many people feel that there is quite a bit of ambiguity over what the term "service animal" actually means, what functions they serve, and how those animals are trained and identified (and to make it more confusing, the law does not require either the person to carry a certification nor the animal to be identified with a special harness or collar). But in the United States, the law is clear: trained service animals are given legal protections by the Americans with Disabilities Act, which means that businesses and government agencies must provide accomodations for them.<br />
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Some agencies go further and embrace these animals and the important work they do.<br />
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Taxi, who works with 14-year old Rachel Benke, who has a seizure disorder, accompanies Rachel to all of her classes at Hector Garcia Middle School in San Antonio Texas every day. He's been working with Rachel for the past four years, notifying her when she's about to have a seizure, which has helped to save her life on more than one occasion.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_1SY29rmQTJMuBAVB2IeuhNMkn1vZio0pEqij5Rfhi-K4PL5gAvRbxnrsUlObbVDimgDnbNjzjpkrusN_8Oea76Kp5sLP2V4wSuYoyAiNerpXhOgnzOJDUSoTfMkFfzhDS0x6SrybAo8/s1600/ynyhf166qfec50r2asch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_1SY29rmQTJMuBAVB2IeuhNMkn1vZio0pEqij5Rfhi-K4PL5gAvRbxnrsUlObbVDimgDnbNjzjpkrusN_8Oea76Kp5sLP2V4wSuYoyAiNerpXhOgnzOJDUSoTfMkFfzhDS0x6SrybAo8/s1600/ynyhf166qfec50r2asch.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
<span id="goog_1674168279"></span><span id="goog_1674168280"></span>Even though the principal at Rachel's school was originally unhappy about Taxi's presence at the school, today he's such an important part of Rachel's life as well as the school community that he got his own picture in the school yearbook, right next to Rachel's.<br />
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Service dogs perform incredibly important services for people with physical and emotional issues, filling a need that it seems that no human or machine can fill. While most are no doubt loved for their work, it is nice to see a highly visible acknowledgement like this once in a while, especially at a time when their status is being debated so publicly.<br />
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Not only does Taxi's yearbook picture demonstrate his importance to and participation in the lives of the students and faculty at Hector Garcia Middle School, it also, like the increasing prevalence of pet obituaries in our nation's newspapers, begins to move animals like Taxi every so slightly into the category of person.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1862836892815778224.post-52932596571390028982014-05-22T14:09:00.000-07:002014-05-22T14:09:18.371-07:00What Makes a Family?Clearly, at least in the wealthy countries of the industrialized and post-industrialized world, our pets are our family. For millions of people today, we dote on our companion animals, buying them the best food, toys, and beds (when they are not sleeping in ours), taking them on vacations, and including them in our family photos.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHB8pzMA55qpnRDKMAt6z0tfhH9FbcdGxnlkumdmOTBjxYIe_a6uUFCoz_sgrii_ipfADHYxOMLbL8ypNG7qpv-txFN34aIO311X-1kkLNgNHzFcenzKn3t57tFZ-agmsjTJnXKz3TDDo/s1600/10268757_274956066012330_1013112924_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHB8pzMA55qpnRDKMAt6z0tfhH9FbcdGxnlkumdmOTBjxYIe_a6uUFCoz_sgrii_ipfADHYxOMLbL8ypNG7qpv-txFN34aIO311X-1kkLNgNHzFcenzKn3t57tFZ-agmsjTJnXKz3TDDo/s1600/10268757_274956066012330_1013112924_n.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fighting over catnip sprouts. by Jason Houge</td></tr>
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But what about feral cats?<br />
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The very definition of feral--from the Latin <i>fera</i>, meaning "wild beast"--suggests that they are clearly <i>not</i> members of the family. These domesticated (but not tame) cats, who live around the periphery of human societies, are viewed as pests, disease hosts, wildlife killers, and worse by most observers. They are subject to a wide variety of control and eradication policies around the world, up to and including killing them, although in the United States, it is still illegal to intentionally kill a cat, even if feral. But that doesn't mean that it isn't done.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBIp1fcIGPGorBvPasemEeYINY4rxManw-MlIpFw72AUb3_gLOAIgOcOij-GpeUBNqESFtQJrPUPqXIstwliCxIKF9kXaaxK1zlh7Er2JnvNKEehGGVbmHySPgEq7PYjQuOnOETWwkzNs/s1600/photo14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBIp1fcIGPGorBvPasemEeYINY4rxManw-MlIpFw72AUb3_gLOAIgOcOij-GpeUBNqESFtQJrPUPqXIstwliCxIKF9kXaaxK1zlh7Er2JnvNKEehGGVbmHySPgEq7PYjQuOnOETWwkzNs/s1600/photo14.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Diane ran past some visitors who came to see the kittens. By Jason Houge</td></tr>
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Still, many animal lovers care for the cats in feral cat colonies, feeding them, and catching them in order to have them spayed and neutered or given medical care. <br />
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But one man, photographer <a href="http://jasonhouge.com/" target="_blank">Jason Houge</a>, who shares his rural property with a colony of feral cats in Green Bay, Wisconsin, takes "family photographs" of them as well.<br />
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His lovely, and often intimate photos of the many cats on his property, all of whom he cares for, makes them feel as if they are truly part of his family. This is so different from the way that feral cats are usually seen; to borrow a phrase from anthropologist Mary Douglas, they are "matter out of place" (1966).<br />
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Like dirt, to which Douglas was referring, they are not just dirty, but they literally don't fit into our conceptual categories; they are not cute and cuddly, you cannot hold them--they are not PETS. Like pigeons, another culturally problematic animal, they are hated. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3A8xPnqc9qzGV84ZosyinLL18ICgyzOqm_E-8mB_AkH3d30QrhORYBvIDoCYb7-DFPpuESCFhruQNUHmkS-1RmJh1rqlrLufnZLaWy7NAHiHYGp-sGjieV3x3qKus-gv3eTRaSy_NQ4k/s1600/cb1152a4c58b11e3addb0002c9d83958_8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3A8xPnqc9qzGV84ZosyinLL18ICgyzOqm_E-8mB_AkH3d30QrhORYBvIDoCYb7-DFPpuESCFhruQNUHmkS-1RmJh1rqlrLufnZLaWy7NAHiHYGp-sGjieV3x3qKus-gv3eTRaSy_NQ4k/s1600/cb1152a4c58b11e3addb0002c9d83958_8.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Family Portrait: Ernie, Mumma and their 9 kittens. By Jason Houge</td></tr>
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But Houge doesn't just not hate them, and he doesn't just care for them. His photos almost re-domesticate them, making us remember what makes us love cats in the first place, and want to bring them into our families in the first place--their playfulness, their lovingness, and yes, a bit of their wildness too.<br />
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This last photo he's titled "Family Portrait," and it includes the entire kitty family. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1862836892815778224.post-79643775989198155292014-05-02T18:14:00.002-07:002014-05-02T18:21:21.320-07:00Human Like Me<h2 style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
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<a href="http://www.maijaastikainen.com/one-dog-policy/?album" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Xf2mIoqJQmkW-7PBtzlmZJrv2hb92bX-0oLANlkbpQqhZrtUr2pK0b8-fZzMSKswkfOF9delbCYR956thoKPmHRSKtr3Mvy9JWAYCg7YCzWNfK0FTF59722ORSblc5-5Fq5zcPWQvA/s1600/onedogpolicy-7.jpg" height="274" width="320" /></a></div>
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While pet portraits seem to be everywhere we turn, they aren’t a recent phenomenon, in fact, one of the earliest animal portraits date back to 15,000 BC where bison and other animal paintings were carved in <a href="http://dordogne-dordogne.com/cave-of-lascaux/">Lascaux</a> caves in France.<br />
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In contemporary time, thanks to social media outlets like Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube, pet portraits circulate through society like lightening. Within a few seconds a proud pet parent can snap a picture of their beloved pooch with their mobile phone and upload it to several social media outlets for friends and family to enjoy. Sometimes those portraits or videos go viral and become a cult favorite like <a href="http://www.disapprovingrabbits.com/">The Disapproving Rabbits</a>, <a href="http://instagram.com/colonelmeow/">Colonel Meow</a> (Colonel Meow recently passed away this past January, RIP), or I am sure everyone’s favorite, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGeKSiCQkPw">Talking Dog</a>. In addition to pet portraits floating around the Internet, many have framed pictures at home and at work to celebrate their love for their pet. In fact, here’s the picture I have on my work desk.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCLjV7aAdYespgRnxChnvTniqCg7nUp9xlYB26H6x-71I6UwU5A-iX2WakQ_rT2pVJC7f9sR3vobqXVSK2zZaPlvvMM5YBKYuIv0aPjYnRPcb93Cr9B5L3BUfKIXOdmJ196ERMpqKsag/s1600/Desk+Photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCLjV7aAdYespgRnxChnvTniqCg7nUp9xlYB26H6x-71I6UwU5A-iX2WakQ_rT2pVJC7f9sR3vobqXVSK2zZaPlvvMM5YBKYuIv0aPjYnRPcb93Cr9B5L3BUfKIXOdmJ196ERMpqKsag/s1600/Desk+Photo.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></div>
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So what makes us want to watch hours of cat videos or why do we have more pictures of Fido on our phone than of friends or our Mom? What makes us say “oh how cute!” when the neighbor shows us the latest picture of her bunny? What is the unspoken connection that we have with our pets that we can’t quite put our finger on?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpd9K3pehlFUAX2dtUj1o_COuZom69p8nx3CdmmA5wtpMb_kXDvT9gVY4xDxBYUYT5xw_wqf8jcXRmlhfGDOXgaDwh3EPE2yBmm2DDSEgieTgc4oIaZ17RLjkKmLLXD4tNDhSqNBZpDA/s1600/Simon.jpg"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpd9K3pehlFUAX2dtUj1o_COuZom69p8nx3CdmmA5wtpMb_kXDvT9gVY4xDxBYUYT5xw_wqf8jcXRmlhfGDOXgaDwh3EPE2yBmm2DDSEgieTgc4oIaZ17RLjkKmLLXD4tNDhSqNBZpDA/s1600/Simon.jpg" width="314" /></a><br />
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Could it be anthropomorphism? Do we project human emotions onto our cherished pets? Do our pets really feel guilt, loneliness, or jealousy? Photographer <a href="http://www.maijaastikainen.com/one-dog-policy/?album">Maija Astikainen</a> is exploring this exact possibility through her portrait series, <a href="http://www.maijaastikainen.com/one-dog-policy/?album">One-Dog Policy</a> which started in 2010 and is an ongoing project. </div>
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When you scroll through the portraits, ask yourself what emotions you see upon these pups’ faces. Do you see a Bulldog lamenting his upcoming bath? Do you see a depressed Greyhound on the sofa yearning for her pet parent to return home? Do you see a guilty dog peering from behind a white dining table; did he eat the baked chicken that was sitting there minutes ago?</div>
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Regardless if you see the same emotions as I did in these portraits or believe that's its only anthropomorphism, you cannot deny that there is a powerful bond between people and their pets, one that is almost magical and certainly timeless.</div>
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To see Maija Astikainen’s portrait series- click <a href="http://www.maijaastikainen.com/one-dog-policy/?album">here</a> and feel free to comment on your thoughts below.<br />
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Captive animals have been objects of human gaze since the popularity of public zoos in the 19th century and as part of private menageries and collections before that. Nonhuman animals have an even longer history appearing on dining tables for consumption by humans. Oftentimes, the form of the animal is non-recognizable as just a piece of meat. But sometimes – as famously linked with Henry VIII at his Tudor feasts – the animal appears as it did when alive, carefully reconstructed to be a stunning centerpiece.<br />
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Today, getting attention in magazines and on Pinterest, are table-displays with captive, live animals.<br />
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While goldfish, guppies, and bettas are the most common live animals gazed upon as centerpieces, the April 2014 issue of Martha Stewart Living has an idea for Easter decorations this year: live rabbits.<br />
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While it might not be shocking that Martha and her editors have considered rabbits commodities for gustatory consumption, as demonstrated by a<a href="http://www.marthastewart.com/317606/braised-rabbit-with-cracked-olives" target="_blank"> recipe she shared with readers</a> in March 2001, it is a curious choice they’ve made to refer to real rabbits as Easter décor. The verbiage of this How-To, along with its accompanying image, seem to consider live rabbits as easy-to-handle trinkets you might happen to have at your disposal.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"Add to the holiday tableau... if you have them on hand, a couple of Hotot bunnies."</i></span><br />
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Dwarf Hotots are cute as heck with those sweet faces and ‘eyeliner’ peepers, but even if it would be possible to get them to sit still as centerpieces, why the suggestion that readers try? Back in February 2011, Martha met with a representative from the House Rabbit Society and learned of the unique needs of rabbits as “wonderful companions.” Her website even includes <a href="http://www.marthastewart.com/326687/rabbit-adoption-tips" target="_blank">adoption tips</a>. Yet, somehow, this year, real bunnies have been given a role of utility on par with craft moss and artificial, pastel eggs. <br />
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It is difficult to imagine Martha and her team suggesting the use of a few live, black kittens for a Hallowe’en centerpiece, or a couple of Labrador Retriever puppies – America’s most popular dog breed in 2013 – for a Memorial Day display. (And her readers would surely be appalled at the idea of braising any of <i>those</i> animals with olives.) <br />
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How does a fish, rabbit or any other animal benefit from being on display on the table? <br />
As a feast for the eyes, the live-animal "centerpiece" is ironically human-centered. <br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">REFERENCES</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Berger, John. “Why Look at Animals?” About Looking, New York: Pantheon, 1980.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">www.akc.org</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">IMAGES</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Swan Centerpiece: www.infobarrel.com/Tudor_Food</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Goldfish Centerpiece: brides.prestonbailey.com/2012/02/09/goldfish-wedding-centerpiece/</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Betta Centerpiece: eyedealshopping.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Fish-centerpieces-200x300.jpg</span><br />
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<br />Amy A. Freehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16583399534802956358noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1862836892815778224.post-70034564509985356792014-03-19T12:59:00.000-07:002014-03-19T13:00:36.935-07:00Grief BaconLately I've been thinking about how we grieve, or don't grieve, for animals, and for which <i>kinds</i> of animals. <br />
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I've started working on a new book about the subject because while it's clear that people who call themselves animal lovers grieve quite strongly for their <i>own</i> animals when they die (that's what the Rainbow Bridge was created for, after all), most people don't think at all about the billions of animals per year who die to fill our bellies. <br />
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That's why I was struck by this image that has been floating around the Internet this week, and by the interesting German name associated with it: "Kummerspeck," which translates to, as the image says, "Grief Bacon." <br />
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The idea is that for many people who overeat when they are stressed or unhappy, putting on weight in the process, that weight is called "grief bacon." It can just as easily be called "unhappy fat" or "sadness fat" since technically "speck" means fat (pig fat, actually) but "grief bacon" sounds more pleasing to the American ear, I think.<br />
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But what if we turned around the notion of "grief bacon" and looked at it another way? What if, instead, we looked at bacon and felt grief for the dead pig whose life was taken in order to produce the bacon? What if the emotion of grief wasn't the sadness of the emotional eater, but the sadness of the griever, grieving for the pig who never got to feel any happiness in his or her life?<br />
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What if this was the new image that went viral with the words "Grief Bacon?"Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1862836892815778224.post-60498541161180330992014-02-27T09:50:00.001-08:002014-02-28T08:41:34.101-08:00The Sexual Politics of Vegan FoodCarol Adams has written extensively on the <a href="http://www.caroljadams.com/spom.html" target="_blank">sexual politics of meat</a>, arguing that women and other animals are both sexualized and commodified to facilitate their consumption (both figuratively and literally) by those in power. One result has been the feminization of veganism and vegetarianism. This has the effect of delegitimizing, devaluing, and defanging veganism as a social movement.
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But this process works <i>within</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>the vegan movement as well, with an open embracing of veganism as inherently feminized and sexualized. This works to undermine a movement (that is comprised mostly of women) and repackage it for a patriarchal society. Instead of strong, political <i>collective</i> of women, we have yet another demographic of sexually available <i>individual </i>women who exist for male consumption.
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Take a browse through vegan cookbooks on Amazon, and the theme of “sexy veganism” that emerges is unmistakable.<br />
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Oftentimes, veganism is presented as a means of achieving idealized body types. These books are mostly geared to a female audience, as society values women primarily as sexual resources for men, and women have internalized these gender norms. Many of these books bank on the power of thin privilege, sizism, and stereotypes about female competition for male attention to shame women into purchasing.
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To reach a male audience, however, authors have to draw on a notion of “authentic masculinity” to make a highly feminized concept palatable to a patriarchal society where all that is feminine is scorned. Some have referred to this trend as “<a href="http://academicabolitionistvegan.blogspot.com/2013/03/heganism-is-sexist-so-cut-it-out.html">heganism</a>.” The idea is to protect male superiority by unnecessarily gendering veganism into veganism for girls and veganism for boys. For the boys, authors have to appeal to “real” manhood.
Thankfully <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Meat-Pussies-guide-dudes-names/dp/B005O0VL40/ref=pd_sxp_f_pt"><i>Meat Is For Pussies (A How-to Guide for Dudes Who Want to Get Fit, Kick Ass and Take Names)</i></a> appears to be out of print.
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The vegan movement also favors the tactic of turning women into consumable objects in the exact same way that meat industries do. <a href="http://gaggingonsexism.wordpress.com/tag/hardees/" target="_blank">Hardee's might have nearly naked women writhing on automobiles with dripping hamburgers</a>, but vegan organizations mimic this by recruiting “lettuce ladies” or “cabbage chicks” dressed as vegetables to interact with the public. PETA routinely has nude women pose in and among vegetables to convey the idea that women are sexy food. <a href="http://veganfeministnetwork.com/why-sex-doesnt-sell-animal-rights/">Vegan pinup sites</a> and <a href="http://casadiablo.org/wordpress/" target="_blank">strip joints</a> also feed into this notion. It is the co-optation and erosion of what is essentially a women’s movement. Instead of empowering women on behalf of animals, these approaches could be disempowering women by preserving a patriarchal framework.
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Corey Wrennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04099780959084371968noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1862836892815778224.post-29989306463340589662013-12-02T21:06:00.002-08:002013-12-02T21:13:59.225-08:00Media, Power, Social Change, and the Feline Absent ReferentMy colleague Cheryl Abbate who is a graduate student of philosophy and animal ethics at Marquette University in Wisconsin shared this bizarre <a href="http://www.nbc15.com/news/headlines/Peta-rolls-out-new-bus-ad-234158031.html" target="_blank">news story</a>
with me (please click to watch the video). PETA paid for a
somewhat graphic image of a cat undergoing medical experimentation to be
posted on buses to raise awareness about <a href="http://www.peta.org/features/uw-madison-cruelty/" target="_blank">Nonhuman Animal testing at the University of Wisconsin, Madison</a>. In the clip, the news station frames the story as a
question of obscene imagery and First Amendment rights. The newscaster,
the bus management, and the public are all presented questioning PETA's legal
ability to post the imagery publicly. <i>Never once is the animal testing actually discussed</i>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyA0PtSgIO4lcTbLVMvhNeJtKmCJuN7RmBqy068USMEtncPnbWuGs7FhwDRzvqg0XXaAo11BFzT83VS-BZTl3wSrfFqpcuocMDfqMMbCa6KT4ndxcefAo5YLTDiN63ZQY9Kzw4DZci_z0/s1600/PETA+UWM.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyA0PtSgIO4lcTbLVMvhNeJtKmCJuN7RmBqy068USMEtncPnbWuGs7FhwDRzvqg0XXaAo11BFzT83VS-BZTl3wSrfFqpcuocMDfqMMbCa6KT4ndxcefAo5YLTDiN63ZQY9Kzw4DZci_z0/s320/PETA+UWM.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Really, the
image isn't even that graphic compared to the scads of absolutely
horrific, keep-you-up-at-night, scar-you-for-life, secondary post
traumatic stress disorder-inducing imagery that is out there (I just returned from a research trip to the Tom Regan Animal Rights Archive and I'm still trying to recover from the images I saw). But why
has the news story focused only on the First Amendment when the big
elephant in the room (or suffering orange cat in this case) is staring
us right in the face?<br />
<br />
If the viewers relied solely on what the news
story presented, they'd never even know there was a problem with the systematic torture and killing of cats in their community. The university's violence against Nonhuman Animals is completely ignored. Instead, attention is drawn to the violence to those <i>humans </i>made uncomfortable by the image
or those worried about harm to their business. An attempt to raise
awareness about the interests of the vulnerable has been manipulated as a
story about the <i>interests of the privileged</i>.<br />
<br />
Research
has demonstrated that vegan rhetoric is often distorted by mainstream
elite-controlled media to either defame and dismiss veganism, or twist
animal-positive ideas to support the status quo. The media is an agent
of socialization created and maintained by those in power. In this case, the multi-billion dollar science industry and the large university get the privilege to shape reality. These entities not only hold tremendous sway over the community, but they have also infiltrated the institution of media itself. As we know, the media is run by powerful white men and their corporate interests.<br />
<br />
Indeed, many
social movement scholars question the ability for social movements to
successfully utilize the media to disseminate messages of radical social change and equality. On the other hand, the power of morally shocking imagery was also demonstrated. Many concerned citizens have been contacting the university with complaints. Fortunately, the news team and others working to maintain the existing power structure can't follow the buses around and try to deflect <i>everyone's</i> attention from Nonhuman Animal rights to First Amendment rights. <br />
<br />
<b>References</b><br />
<br />
Cole, M. and K. Morgan. 2011. "<a href="http://academicabolitionistvegan.blogspot.com/2013/11/a-month-of-vegan-research-veganphobia.html" target="_blank">Veganphobia: Derogatory Discourses of Veganism and the Reproduction of Speciesism in UK National Newspapers</a>." <i>The British Journal of Sociology</i> 62 (1): 134-153.<br />
<br />
Freeman, C. 2009. "This Little Piggy Went to Press; The American News Media's Construction of Animals in Agriculture." <i>The Communication Review</i> 12 (1): 78-103.<br />
<br />
Sampedro, V. 1997. "The Media Politics of Social Protest." <i>Mobilization</i> 2 (2): 1985-205.Corey Wrennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04099780959084371968noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1862836892815778224.post-751857927579617012013-11-30T16:11:00.000-08:002013-11-30T16:11:56.097-08:00Depicting Endangered SpeciesDoes the public care about saving endangered and threatened species? <br />
<br />
Yes and no. <br />
<br />
Certainly, we <em>say</em> that we do, but our actions certainly tell a different story, as most of us go about our lives as if anywhere from 200 (on the very low end) and 100,000 species are not becoming extinct <em>every single year</em>, according to estimates from the World Wildlife Fund.<br />
<br />
Unlike the previous five major extinction events in the world's history, what we are living through, according to most scientists, is caused primarily by humans. And yet most people do nothing to slow down the climate change which is largely responsible for many of these extinctions, for example, nor do they think about where the exotic wood that their furniture came from and what animals may have once lived in the rainforest from which it came, nor do they worry about the seafood that they eat and whether those fishes are being fished to the point of extinction, for example.<br />
<br />
What would make us care, and more importantly, do something?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNvIrUswDX6p58C1T2uXrPLAbGvjSMHirws7WU9YTQQmhBg2Vtjiboxix8YebRzKhGg_FOD0nuCB0pX-1U3OTdF3IlhcrlHbDCKbROC8VqNKpqlO87VxTpy0EHiWGY6PmME4jwD-MStiY/s1600/Picture1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNvIrUswDX6p58C1T2uXrPLAbGvjSMHirws7WU9YTQQmhBg2Vtjiboxix8YebRzKhGg_FOD0nuCB0pX-1U3OTdF3IlhcrlHbDCKbROC8VqNKpqlO87VxTpy0EHiWGY6PmME4jwD-MStiY/s400/Picture1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Studies (see for example <span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Gunnthorsdottir
2001) </span>show that people care more about animals that are attractive than those that are unattractive. So this article from January 2013 on the threatened nature of four arctic species highlights how "adorable" those animals are. As ridiculous as the headline seems, most readers really do care more if the animals are adorable, and thus may take some action to save them.<br />
<br />
Artist Justin Steinburg took a similar approach. In a series of illustrations that he did for the World Wildlife Fund, he represented a number of endangered animals as sugar skulls that are used on the Dia de los Muertos--the Mexican Day of the Dead. This is the day when people through out much of Latin America pay respect to their dead ancestors. According to <a href="http://www.justinsteinburg.com/WWF" target="_blank">Steinburg's website</a>, "we must learn to celebrate the beauty of these endangered animals while they are still alive."<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj67odT0DpiDJyU3vz0GQszxupmHIbbjNojkAiL_1LyhWjdWrGEUkruMTbe1omKr41jiSK6F-jSnfkYwsjsL0IaPylQ92uxo8H-H5iIkEbys-VXUY4ibJwWdmGpMzBVGu-_JaE_e3AyYPA/s1600/WWF2_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj67odT0DpiDJyU3vz0GQszxupmHIbbjNojkAiL_1LyhWjdWrGEUkruMTbe1omKr41jiSK6F-jSnfkYwsjsL0IaPylQ92uxo8H-H5iIkEbys-VXUY4ibJwWdmGpMzBVGu-_JaE_e3AyYPA/s320/WWF2_2.jpg" width="246" /></a></div>
Steinburg's illustrations, in borrowing the iconography of the Day of the Dead, highlights the fact that these animals are themselves on the brink of death, spurring the viewer to take action to help save them. <br />
<br />
But it's worth noting that he also highlights their beauty, and that the animals he picks--a gorilla, a panda, and a tiger--are all among the most charismatic of the large animals, and thus, already those that we would feel most drawn to, and most likely to want to save.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikEvhRFuUr_gOnTm6Jwc0adXwWM-H4nutx-oMGVigkRsldgf6p21ljdco_SiaVE81pLRZXF4ElCx_AIGwq2NmknzEFC5klH5lOtQ7aFH5plhvEZt5iI3wIPdc9SzBoFLPvAPD4cv5KxMI/s1600/treefrog_1514831c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikEvhRFuUr_gOnTm6Jwc0adXwWM-H4nutx-oMGVigkRsldgf6p21ljdco_SiaVE81pLRZXF4ElCx_AIGwq2NmknzEFC5klH5lOtQ7aFH5plhvEZt5iI3wIPdc9SzBoFLPvAPD4cv5KxMI/s320/treefrog_1514831c.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
If pandas, arguably one of the "cutest" of all of the animals (<a href="http://youtu.be/sGF6bOi1NfA" target="_blank">if you don't believe me, check this out</a>), are on the brink of extinction, then what hope is there for an "ugly" animal like the Rabb’s fringe-limbed tree frog? <br />
<br />
In fact, the fastest growing group of endangered species, with 1,895 out of 6,285 species in
danger of extinction according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, are amphibians, one of the least-liked of all animals. <br />
<br />
That spells bad news for the tree frog.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1862836892815778224.post-59440646800888552812013-11-11T18:55:00.002-08:002013-11-11T18:55:37.488-08:00Arrow Pierces Deer's Face and Lives to Tell the Tale: The Importance of Survivor ImagesThis morning, the story of a young deer in New Jersey who's face was punctured by a hunting arrow went viral. The story ends happily enough: Through human intervention, he survived and lives to see another day.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLja3CgvciJh1gykhPJX6uGrko7dFk41ciKrMQe0HQWQCSI5zelT3skSqSDYEqiiarZLyItB54FrsrZns93H7bTbng85sW-o3WKHUx_sWmJeRwrlaxh2Wt60BKwEWEJn9U482C2Z2UNA/s1600/Deer+Arrow+Face.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLja3CgvciJh1gykhPJX6uGrko7dFk41ciKrMQe0HQWQCSI5zelT3skSqSDYEqiiarZLyItB54FrsrZns93H7bTbng85sW-o3WKHUx_sWmJeRwrlaxh2Wt60BKwEWEJn9U482C2Z2UNA/s320/Deer+Arrow+Face.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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While the <a href="http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/11/11/remember-the-deer-shot-through-the-face-with-an-arrow-heres-how-its-doing/" target="_blank">news coverage was problematic for many reasons</a> (mockingly nicknaming the deer "Steve Martin" after an arrow through the head gag he popularized, referring to him as "it," celebrating the wildlife department for saving him when the same agency is actually responsible for facilitating "hunts"), the shocking image is powerful enough to transcend speciesist media and offer a glimpse into the real horrors of killing Nonhuman Animals for "sport" and/or "food."<br />
<br />
"Hunting" (I place the term in quotation marks to denote it as a euphemism) is like a private club or secret society for men who seek to consolidate their dominance in exclusive yearly meetings made inaccessible to the public. Men convene in the woods to "bond," "appreciate nature," "get some fresh air," "catch up with friends," "learn life's lessons," etc. All of these charming sentiments obscure the primary activity that differentiates "hunting" from a camping trip or a hike: The intended slaughter of deers, bears, and other free-living animals.<br />
<br />
Men use the seclusion of the back country to enact patriarchy in these male-only spaces. The practice is reinforced with highly ritualized behavior. "Hunters" spend thousands of dollars on licenses, guns, gun accessories, camouflaged dress, lures, etc. Boys are initiated young and forced (killing is not usually a natural or desirable thing for children) to fire weapons at the Nonhuman Animals they once considered friends. Killers often end the ritual by consuming the flesh of their victims.<br />
<br />
For us advocates (women in particular) who are "uninitiated" in these secret male gatherings, killers assume that we "don't get it" or "don't understand" when we protest the violence. Like all displays of male power, "hunting" is presumed necessary and any disagreement is thought to indicate ignorance. This deflection of feminized resistance only reinforces "hunting" (a practice of male supremacy) as for men only and legitimizes male power.<br />
<br />
Survivors offer a glimpse into this protected, hidden world. "Hunting" classes recommend that killers keep their dirty work out of view of the public who would be offended. Taxidermied corpses portray the animals still alert in life. But survivors show us the horrors that the patriarchal pro-"hunting" ideology and murder-scene cleanups obscure.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqcC0q1iSvXMpvn5cFZosihKXKGYKMYJ_anR_pxZAG1xBa825y0RsQYxy5VaGiAdUuU64LzuDINtaym774v5dhMdcjRB0IzEitDQXrrsdXW8KOwvSUv9UDhVrkFFKibuB1bJd6omyQMA/s1600/Deer+with+Arrow+in+Face.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqcC0q1iSvXMpvn5cFZosihKXKGYKMYJ_anR_pxZAG1xBa825y0RsQYxy5VaGiAdUuU64LzuDINtaym774v5dhMdcjRB0IzEitDQXrrsdXW8KOwvSUv9UDhVrkFFKibuB1bJd6omyQMA/s320/Deer+with+Arrow+in+Face.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another survivor in Colorado. <br />At the time of the <a href="http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20081224/NEWS/812249979" target="_blank">news report</a>, wildlife authorities were seeking to help her.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />The fact that many National Forest areas and parks practically shut down to the public for men to enter with weapons and inflict genocide on the innocent civilians of the woods demonstrates state-supported male entitlement to feminized spaces. As eco-feminists explain, Nonhuman Animals and the environment, like women, are treated as resources that exist for men to pleasurably consume. "Hunting" survivors are not unlike refugees living in farmed animal sanctuaries, rape survivors and slave narratives--they live to tell the tale of male violence. They make the invisibility of oppression visible again.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">See Brian Luke's <i><a href="http://academicabolitionistvegan.blogspot.com/2013/11/a-month-of-vegan-research-manhood-and.html" target="_blank">Brutal: Manhood and the Exploitation of Animals</a></i> for more information on masculinity, speciesism, and "hunting."</span>Corey Wrennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04099780959084371968noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1862836892815778224.post-71155713678256918082013-11-01T14:26:00.000-07:002013-11-01T14:26:04.584-07:00Zoo Animals Around the WorldArtists who photograph or otherwise represent non-human animals are one of the major inspirations for this blog. How they look at animals--whether wild or domestic, or in the wild or in captivity--tells us a great deal about how society as a whole sees, and also treats, other animals.<br />
<br />
In these haunting photos by Canadian photographer Gaston Lacombe, we see animals kept in non-American zoos in conditions that most of us would find inadequate, to say the least. Yet the reality is that many American zoos keep animals in conditions very much like these; many are better, for sure, but many are very similar and some are even worse, even as zoos both in the U.S. and around the world are all changing their message from "entertainment" to "education" and "conservation."<br />
<br />
Either way, much of what is happening for the zoo visitor is looking, and much of what is happening for the zoo animal is being looked at, and all that the gaze entails. <br />
<br />
From John Berger:<br />
<br />
"The zoo cannot but disappoint. The public purpose of zoos is to offer visitors the opportunity of looking at animals. Yet nowhere in the zoo can a stranger encounter the look of an animal."<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1862836892815778224.post-18377205721569673212013-09-17T14:04:00.000-07:002013-09-17T14:05:48.783-07:00Wounded Messengers<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2013/images/09/16/0916.Pigeons/main.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2013/images/09/16/0916.Pigeons/main.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="cnnPostImageDescription" style="visibility: visible;">
Photo by Mansura Khanam.</div>
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Pigeons are one of those birds considered to be among the lowest of animals; it is found at the bottom of the sociozoologic scale based on its use value to humans, and many people consider them vermin. <br />
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Bangladesh-born photographer <a href="http://cnnphotos.blogs.cnn.com/2013/09/15/pigeons-the-wounded-messengers/Mansura%20Khanam">Mansura Khanam</a> has been photographing injured pigeons who are convalescing at the <a href="http://wildbirdfund.org/" target="_blank">Wild Bird Fund</a>, New York City’s rehabilitation center for wild birds. These pigeons have suffered a whole host of problems thanks to their contact with humans, including Sharon, above, who suffered lead poisoning.<br />
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From CNN:<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Through Khanam’s patient lens, the birds stare directly back at the human viewers. Eye to eye, it is harder to see them as “flying rats.”</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">They challenge us to acknowledge them.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">These are monogamous birds whose mating rituals include aerial wing claps and special calls. These are birds that collaborate – males and females share nest-building and incubating time.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">We are reminded that these adaptable creatures are in fact wild, and that we share a habitat.</span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1862836892815778224.post-74205109894572717432013-09-01T14:47:00.001-07:002013-09-02T10:33:29.663-07:00Companion Animals Then and Now<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1TtvG8g8NITy6DF6EJchbk1bx2EpnqObx1danLBRxQKuuduwU9lj2qkB_UNKXp5dhSANVLukv_dsccXMeVwkSiaSWMVt8kn3vxGWEJn3JqzWR9nKjN_lVGlyDKHPsmcFJD-jI5YXCCls/s640/blogger-image-202369516.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1TtvG8g8NITy6DF6EJchbk1bx2EpnqObx1danLBRxQKuuduwU9lj2qkB_UNKXp5dhSANVLukv_dsccXMeVwkSiaSWMVt8kn3vxGWEJn3JqzWR9nKjN_lVGlyDKHPsmcFJD-jI5YXCCls/s400/blogger-image-202369516.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/samimain/heartwarming-then-and-now-photos-of-pets" target="_blank">Buzzfeed</a> recently featured a series of photos sent in by readers of their pets from the past and the present to show how cute they continue to be, now that they are no longer puppies or kittens.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnxiLwGcIu7tAWI6k94JO57XE0GZjtuj42fFT9U_4tMajITu9S8sXML4w0CScBDt8rO1vAlZjrvYzHBs4BQF6Xnc-mwGMxd72baztH4lrbYCsSz0mRfQelgHD1341N-H0k6RX9cQHlLmI/s640/blogger-image-1584187405.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnxiLwGcIu7tAWI6k94JO57XE0GZjtuj42fFT9U_4tMajITu9S8sXML4w0CScBDt8rO1vAlZjrvYzHBs4BQF6Xnc-mwGMxd72baztH4lrbYCsSz0mRfQelgHD1341N-H0k6RX9cQHlLmI/s400/blogger-image-1584187405.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
But these photos of the equally charming people posed with their animals show something else as well: the power of he human-animal bond. <br />
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Because unlike some people who buy or even adopt animals and then abandon, sell or surrender them after they find that they no longer fit into their lives, the people in these photos are just as devoted to their companions as they were years before when they first brought them home.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxZStrIa6mKz1-ci0v2lmRWm2d4cxIAffyCtKwS_mkf3q2WWojnv6ljowst7VUU6ZjnOs9b6TLn0qstM6WgsCLcLWadhMpEwf6-ROXjFPwC-MlILtXfaGG2sG3cm1ae1DTQV4kmDCfvDY/s640/blogger-image-1784968434.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxZStrIa6mKz1-ci0v2lmRWm2d4cxIAffyCtKwS_mkf3q2WWojnv6ljowst7VUU6ZjnOs9b6TLn0qstM6WgsCLcLWadhMpEwf6-ROXjFPwC-MlILtXfaGG2sG3cm1ae1DTQV4kmDCfvDY/s400/blogger-image-1784968434.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Beautiful indeed.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1862836892815778224.post-69119176825252791392013-07-17T13:49:00.001-07:002013-07-17T15:39:05.681-07:00Water and Watermelon for Dying Pigs<div>
In the United States, <a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/X6909E/x6909e08.htm#b5-Transport%20operations" target="_blank">the laws on transporting animals to slaughter are extremely lax</a>. The government suggests that transporters ideally keep trips under 8 hours, but at the very least give the animals a break from the truck once every <i>24 hours</i>. Animals are often deprived of food and water for hours or days because it will be wasted on a body that is about to be killed. Many drivers simply don't care or can't be bothered to let the animals out for a break. On the long transit to their death, these "food" animals are exposed to all elements, be it searing hot or so cold that the animals begin to freeze to each other and to the truck. The journey is so brutal, an <a href="http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/pigs-intelligent-animals-suffering-in-factory-farms-and-slaughterhouses.aspx" target="_blank">estimated 1 million pigs die in transit </a>each year.<br />
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In this moment, these victims on route to the slaughterhouse are probably receiving the only bit of compassion they will ever know from humans, their last (maybe only) glimpse of sunlight, and certainly their only taste of watermelon. The ones trapped in the middle of the countless overheated, filthy bodies receive nothing. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNH3E2oL63gTxT1lPX9ojMTTznhPNSeh3soIixE6bdwFdxIBDDZBsiqPvJUS2leyCsMcCLi-BIII_Qds53bEl-OsMcKAUWDPl1zy-kpBGMzPYT_MsJTfXlstrsCnSmoGqRlqi0MW2qBA/s1600/Krajnc+Pigs+and+Watermelon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNH3E2oL63gTxT1lPX9ojMTTznhPNSeh3soIixE6bdwFdxIBDDZBsiqPvJUS2leyCsMcCLi-BIII_Qds53bEl-OsMcKAUWDPl1zy-kpBGMzPYT_MsJTfXlstrsCnSmoGqRlqi0MW2qBA/s400/Krajnc+Pigs+and+Watermelon.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Anita Krajnc</td></tr>
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As this image circulates across Facebook and advocacy networks, the response from viewers speaks to the power of emotion in narratives and photography. Photographer Anita Krajnc writes: "[ . . . ] if you haven't yet made the connection between the pleasure of your bacon and the misery of these animals' lives and death, may this image cause a change of heart."<br />
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Breaching the false divide between human and nonhuman/consumer and product, these women don't just ease the suffering of these pigs, <i>they restore their personhood</i>. No longer faceless, nameless commodities, the pigs become individuals. This image asks us to reconsider our relationship with so-called "food" animals. Commodities or neighbors? Friends or food? Things or persons? Rights-bearers or property?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBB8QeDlpWtBIf-xeUqPRIHRquZBRpFprIBiujEj_KPOcHV1qY1oeBpaVPOaX36Qc5IqQotnG7fTryC5AGxkswjRgCp59q5eWNxGXaeEyZfPMKlMJFORFqJaNXX5oklNym7X0FSVozCg/s1600/Pigs+Peace+Sanctuary.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBB8QeDlpWtBIf-xeUqPRIHRquZBRpFprIBiujEj_KPOcHV1qY1oeBpaVPOaX36Qc5IqQotnG7fTryC5AGxkswjRgCp59q5eWNxGXaeEyZfPMKlMJFORFqJaNXX5oklNym7X0FSVozCg/s320/Pigs+Peace+Sanctuary.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Daisy enjoys some watermelon under happier circumstances.<br />
<a href="http://www.pigspeace.org/main/index.html" target="_blank">Pigs Peace Sanctuary</a> in Stanwood, WA.</td></tr>
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Corey Wrennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04099780959084371968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1862836892815778224.post-11551742940554640382013-06-27T10:10:00.002-07:002013-06-27T10:15:11.285-07:00Zoo Animals<a href="http://flavorwire.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/zoo4.jpg?w=319&h=480" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://flavorwire.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/zoo4.jpg?w=319&h=480" width="212" /></a><a href="http://flavorwire.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/zoo3.jpg?w=480&h=319" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://flavorwire.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/zoo3.jpg?w=480&h=319" width="320" /></a>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">What do people think about
when they look at animals in zoos? <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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</span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Research has shown that the average visitor spends thirty seconds to two
minutes per enclosure (Mullan and Marvin 1999). Visitors barely watch the
animals, and ignore the educational signs about them. After visiting the zoo,
for many visitors, the take home message is that humans are
superior to other animals, according to social ecologist Stephen Kellert
(1979, 1997). </span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<a href="http://flavorwire.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/zoo7.jpg?w=359&h=480" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://flavorwire.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/zoo7.jpg?w=359&h=480" width="239" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">But what do zoo animals think about their lives, while people are
watching them? There's no real way to know, of course. </span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><a href="http://www.danielzakharov.de/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Daniel
Zakharov</span></a> is a photographer whose series <em><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Modern Wilderness</span></em> focuses on the daily
lives of animals. In these images, which feature the lives of zoo animals, we
see the animals engaged in the limited activities that their captivity
allows them: pacing, sleeping, watching, and thinking, perhaps, as <a href="http://www.animalconcerns.org/external.html?www=http%3A//flavorwire.com/398059/poignant-photos-of-animals-contemplating-life-in-zoos&itemid=201306160015300.743727" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Alison Nastasi writes</span></a>, about the
conditions of their own existence. <o:p></o:p></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
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<span id="more-398059"></span><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1862836892815778224.post-19832854654280227732013-06-04T15:22:00.001-07:002013-06-04T15:39:30.569-07:00Police Dogs and PeopleTwo heartbreaking photos came out this week to remind us of the incredible bonds that form between police officers and the dogs who work with them. While Clinton Sanders has written of the complex and even contradictory relationships that form between police officers and the patrol dogs who work with them--the dogs are "both occupational resources and weapons" but at the same time are members of the officer's household and spend more time with the officer than the officer does with members of his or her own family (Sanders 2012)--it is clear that a very tight bond forms between officer and dog. This is demonstrated in the following two photos. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgER1T4lqB3S7XIrdFVVZPNeN-T0mBZ1UTovifWMiybIKkPjmnadDK97eGAOOYjlMCeD1NFo9oDW8r2xDMFHTqIzGfWOUqYaLhgLfrUhcAeObo_TGWQ_3mFU1wcZ6uAkwAQvZ1Lb_hKWwo/s1600/enhanced-buzz-2701-1370038536-18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgER1T4lqB3S7XIrdFVVZPNeN-T0mBZ1UTovifWMiybIKkPjmnadDK97eGAOOYjlMCeD1NFo9oDW8r2xDMFHTqIzGfWOUqYaLhgLfrUhcAeObo_TGWQ_3mFU1wcZ6uAkwAQvZ1Lb_hKWwo/s320/enhanced-buzz-2701-1370038536-18.jpg" width="320" /></a>The first is of Kaiser, a police dog in Plymouth, Massachusetts, who is taking his final walk on the police force before his retirement due to kidney disease. Shortly after this photo was taken, Kaiser's partner and caretaker, Officer Jamie Lebretton, made the heart-wrenching decision to put him to sleep. He wrote, "RIP my boy. I could not have asked for a better partner or friend. You made me a better person, a better handler, and a better cop. Till we meet again, Kai. I love you and will miss you daily."<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhiR38J50zWhG49Bzi6Cx31DwmADk0zYsSAaZVMEWnPkXynoPzZnROIchOaYHbaUSK_VZ7A6qZXXxPeXVHuT9Ka8oAMHY7HWT_bareXlPWUcnP5m0JOJM077Mlr1BmThbG9B9fnqmwpW0/s1600/ellisfuneral.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhiR38J50zWhG49Bzi6Cx31DwmADk0zYsSAaZVMEWnPkXynoPzZnROIchOaYHbaUSK_VZ7A6qZXXxPeXVHuT9Ka8oAMHY7HWT_bareXlPWUcnP5m0JOJM077Mlr1BmThbG9B9fnqmwpW0/s320/ellisfuneral.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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This second photo is of another police dog, Figo, at the funeral of his human partner, Jason Ellis, of the Bardstown, Kentucky Police Department. Officer Ellis was shot and killed in an ambush on a highway interstate five days earlier, with Figo by his side. During the funeral, Figo, who has now been retired to live permanently with Ellis' family, reached out with his paw to touch the casket. Observers have speculated that Figo may have been able to smell that his partner was in the casket and was trying to reach out to him.<br />
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Both images are heartbreaking signs of the love and respect between human and dog.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1862836892815778224.post-65974505837514757882013-05-16T09:52:00.001-07:002013-05-16T11:07:11.344-07:00Dead Animals/Dead Animal ImagesAnimal rights advocates have long used images of dead and suffering animals as a way to draw attention to the exploitation of non-human animals by humans, just as anti-abortion advocates have long used images of aborted fetuses to protest abortion. In both cases, activists use the stark images of dead animals or fetuses to arouse in the passerby empathy, moral outrage, and, ultimately, action. They hope that people will change their outlook and take action to stop the suffering that they are witnessing.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjak9_SnBnRS0OsXY3wWuo0n_zHTjuhFgVLLK03DJiHwk7SKUdZKTje0AsF1XHU_jQsRXSdLCEJLjZIir3ySlJ5fGGy_fd6gb-roFMXoAlxdXGU9KFiOQdWTO1BLJgtQfZCvYYYXvtlDMM/s1600/1323533265-protest-against-animal-exploitation-in-madrid_961647.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjak9_SnBnRS0OsXY3wWuo0n_zHTjuhFgVLLK03DJiHwk7SKUdZKTje0AsF1XHU_jQsRXSdLCEJLjZIir3ySlJ5fGGy_fd6gb-roFMXoAlxdXGU9KFiOQdWTO1BLJgtQfZCvYYYXvtlDMM/s320/1323533265-protest-against-animal-exploitation-in-madrid_961647.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Lawrence JC Baron</td></tr>
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While these tactics are well-used, these photos from 2011, sent to me by Eric Greene, represent a much less common approach. These protesters, from the Spanish animal rights group Igualdadanimal.org, are not holding signs of dead animals, but are actually holding the bodies of recently dead animals. Many of the protesters, as in the case of the man at the left, have been moved to tears by the animals they are holding and the action in which they are participating.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDo0kxh7-i2rUfCQEKD0WKaRn4ePA3vNUnCCW0Ns9mrM6wxA_PAqttV1Eiby_oLhMG8OV1wsBHWJJK80XApIDWcvdCVf_An5DwsvH4VhWzwBcV121UEBs62p6EYrgu4oShYMyXcu1RgYc/s1600/1323533264-protest-against-animal-exploitation-in-madrid_961707.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDo0kxh7-i2rUfCQEKD0WKaRn4ePA3vNUnCCW0Ns9mrM6wxA_PAqttV1Eiby_oLhMG8OV1wsBHWJJK80XApIDWcvdCVf_An5DwsvH4VhWzwBcV121UEBs62p6EYrgu4oShYMyXcu1RgYc/s320/1323533264-protest-against-animal-exploitation-in-madrid_961707.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Lawrence JC Baron</td></tr>
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As Eric mentioned to me when sending me these images, animal bodies are around us in many ways: we see them hanging in butcher shop windows or in pieces in the meat section of the grocery store. We see them on the side of the road as "roadkill." If we live in a hunting state, we see them whole in the backs of pick up trucks. If you have ever lived with a companion animal, you have probably cradled that animal in your arms while he lay dying, just as the man in the photo above is doing. But to see people standing in the street with hundreds of dead animals in their arms? It certainly begs attention. This second picture, in fact, reminds me of a military cemetery like Normandy, with each human/animal body as a tombstone. Certainly for the activists, it is a war that they are fighting, and while the animals won't get a grave with a marker, this act is their commemoration.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1862836892815778224.post-33444761185538804622013-05-10T10:00:00.000-07:002013-05-10T10:00:13.167-07:00The Social Construction of Cockroaches<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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For many, cockroaches are stereotyped as dirty, file, disease-ridden, and unworthy of life. Admittedly, even vegans sometimes have difficulty overcoming the "heebie jeebies" cockroaches can sometimes trigger--our socialization against certain animal species is that strong.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj-Vw7FKik3D_Pgw59V2naP-qj6rZ7u5oTLRkvWSo4s6_nThcXurVlLSjSXOMAI2xL8wL8VIjq9IEi0DOf94LIlJLqne1S-DtGLOkqhzJI9obGQOg13u2q-PZRqzVlFuo2lC8pqYDNTQ/s1600/cockroaches+roasted2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj-Vw7FKik3D_Pgw59V2naP-qj6rZ7u5oTLRkvWSo4s6_nThcXurVlLSjSXOMAI2xL8wL8VIjq9IEi0DOf94LIlJLqne1S-DtGLOkqhzJI9obGQOg13u2q-PZRqzVlFuo2lC8pqYDNTQ/s320/cockroaches+roasted2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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In many areas of the world, cockroaches are eaten as food. Some places (like Russia and Jamaica) even use cockroaches in traditional medicine. For Westerners, however, cockroaches are considered so vile, they are only worthy of human contact in derogatory "fear factor" contests. In fact, many of us find cockroaches so creepy, they are suitable for Halloween costumes.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnk1leKd_jIMxsiPSurnDDllgpM0wZQTX6FLIIpj-SVvBEgtYk8IZ5QvuhcD7kLjoZQIldm1fkSA785WNHEK9Lmx2HNgAMuY83WzluYq1qJHARiLoF7uCuqIont3JHMsT8jbM7KD61GA/s1600/adult-cockroach-costume-zoom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnk1leKd_jIMxsiPSurnDDllgpM0wZQTX6FLIIpj-SVvBEgtYk8IZ5QvuhcD7kLjoZQIldm1fkSA785WNHEK9Lmx2HNgAMuY83WzluYq1qJHARiLoF7uCuqIont3JHMsT8jbM7KD61GA/s320/adult-cockroach-costume-zoom.jpg" width="224" /></a></div>
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Yet, as <i><a href="http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/05/05/sunday-fun-vintage-cockroach-racing-game/" target="_blank">Sociological Images</a></i> points out, "What seems normal is not necessarily natural or inevitable." Apparently Americans were not always so disgusted by cockroaches, as evidenced in this advertisement from the 1930s or 40s depicting well-to-do women gleefully participating in a cockroach race. </div>
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Incidentally, <a href="http://cockroachraces.com.au/" target="_blank">cockroach racing resurfaced in Australia</a> in the 1980s, where it continues today, albeit with the more charismatic hissing cockroach.<br />
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According to <i><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=dKm6YCWZo5cC" target="_blank">Cockroach</a></i>, by Marion Copeland (2003), cockroaches have enjoyed an important role in human folklore, appearing in Aesopian fables and Greek mythology. They become symbols of clever wit, resilience, and survival. They also represent the dichotomy of light and darkness, as well as power and weakness.<br />
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Cockroaches also surface in the story of human slavery and colonization. For example, most of the species of cockroaches we are familiar with in the United States only arrived to North America with the Spanish colonizers of the 1500s and ships transporting slaves from Africa not long after. Many oppressed peoples have taken on the cockroach as symbol of the injustice they face. Alternatively,<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/general-who-crushed-tutsi-cockroaches-is-jailed-for-30-years-2285527.html" target="_blank"> the cockroach image has also been forced on the vulnerable to dehumanize them and justify their subjugation</a>.<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The cockroach's long history in the story of humanity has not gone completely underappreciated. In <i>The Cockroach Papers: A Compendium of History and Lore</i>, author <span style="line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=4885" target="_blank">Richard Schweid reminds us that cockroaches, too, are sentient beings worth saving</a>. Smashing the stereotypes (he notes that cockroaches clean themselves as much as cats do, for example), Schweid reminds us that cockroaches serve many important functions for our ecosystem. Ultimately, he argues, humans and cockroaches can and should coexist.</span></span>Corey Wrennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04099780959084371968noreply@blogger.com1Virginia, USA37.4315734 -78.65689420000001131.0314299 -88.9840427 43.831716899999996 -68.329745700000018tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1862836892815778224.post-8143842934852676102013-05-07T12:42:00.000-07:002013-05-07T12:43:40.554-07:00Cat Imagery in the Suffrage Movement<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Cats were a common symbol in suffragette imagery. Cats represented the domestic sphere, and anti-suffrage postcards often used them to reference female activists. The intent was to portray suffragettes as silly, infantile, incompetent, and ill-suited to political engagement.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mocking anti-suffrage postcard</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8UWEta1jHWHWWCRxj-ftr4odHFnmFkickEhlVRZIWpQEO0VGvwZJw9uckPNbs0haLLie4LW1GehMP1C5SC-hVqUipFJNZN_13ZeEx0kbaLlM-mBpsyVfgbDg-lCidZ6EiK9Sb5EJyNA/s1600/dont-care-if-have-vote.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8UWEta1jHWHWWCRxj-ftr4odHFnmFkickEhlVRZIWpQEO0VGvwZJw9uckPNbs0haLLie4LW1GehMP1C5SC-hVqUipFJNZN_13ZeEx0kbaLlM-mBpsyVfgbDg-lCidZ6EiK9Sb5EJyNA/s320/dont-care-if-have-vote.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reads: "We don't care if we never have a vote."<br />
Photo from the <i><a href="http://www.uni.edu/palczews/postcard_archive.html">Palczewski Suffrage Postcard Archive</a></i></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Mocking anti-suffrage postcard<br />
Photo from the <i><a href="http://www.uni.edu/palczews/postcard_archive.html">Palczewski Suffrage Postcard Archive</a></i></td></tr>
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Another common theme in anti-suffrage cartoons and postcards was the bumbling, emasculated father cruelly left behind to cover his wife's shirked duties as she so ungracefully abandons the home for the political sphere. Oftentimes, cats were portrayed in these scenes as symbols of a threatened traditional home in need of woman's care and attention.<br />
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Public sentiment warmed to the suffragettes as police brutality began to push women into a more favorable, if victimized, light. As suffragettes increasingly found themselves jailed, many resisted unfair or inhumane imprisonment with hunger strikes. In response, jailers would often force-feed female prisoners with steel devices to pry open their mouths and long hoses inserted into their noses and down their throats. This caused severe damage to the women's faces, mouths, lungs, and stomachs, sometimes causing illness and death. The British government responded by enacting the Prisoner's Act of 1913 which temporarily freed prisoners to recuperate (or die) at home, at which time they could be rearrested. The intention was to free the government from responsibility of injury and death from force feeding prisoners. This act became popularly known as the "Cat and Mouse Act," as the government was seen as toying with their female prey as a cat would a mouse. Suddenly, the cat takes on a decidedly more masculine, "tom cat" persona. The cat now represented the violent realities of women's struggle for political rights in the male public sphere.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Sympathetic suffrage postcard referencing the Prisoner's Act of 1913</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo from <i><a href="http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/war-on-women-waged-in-postcards-memes-from-the-suffragist-era/" target="_blank">Collectors Weekly</a></i></span></div>
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<br />Corey Wrennhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04099780959084371968noreply@blogger.com4Virginia, USA37.4315734 -78.65689420000001131.0314299 -88.9840427 43.831716899999996 -68.329745700000018tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1862836892815778224.post-1000987552176862172013-04-24T13:29:00.004-07:002013-04-24T13:30:24.153-07:00An Act of Dog<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://anactofdog.org/An_Act_of_Dog/Mission_files/287.%20Blitzen%201:4:2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://anactofdog.org/An_Act_of_Dog/Mission_files/287.%20Blitzen%201:4:2011.jpg" width="317" /></a>Lately I've been posting quite a number of posts about artists using their work to highlight <a href="http://hasimages.blogspot.com/2013/04/art-and-dead-animals.html" target="_blank">the harm that is being done to non-human animals</a>, or to <a href="http://hasimages.blogspot.com/2013/03/landfill-dogs.html" target="_blank">force people to take action to save animals' lives</a>.</div>
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Today's post features the work of Mark Barone, who is painting the portraits of 5,500 shelter dogs, all of whom have already been killed. The paintings will eventually be housed in a permanent memorial museum, and the funds raised from the project will be used to save animals from euthanasia. <a href="http://anactofdog.org/An_Act_of_Dog/Home.html" target="_blank">Find out more about the project here.</a><br />
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